Early Arrival
by Chuckamaru
Summary: What if Vegeta had come to Earth at age 10? What if he had crash-landed in Mexico? What if he lost his memory? WHat if he was suddenly face with his past?
1. Vicente

Disclaimer: I don't own DragonBall Z 

The space pod zoomed towards Earth at an alarming speed. It crashed among some trees in the dark of night. Due to the impact, the pod's single passenger was thrown out and knocked unconscious as he hit the ground several yards away. 

***********************************************************************************

Arturo Rodríguez, a Mexican farmer, made his way through his fields, plowing as he went along. As he paused to wipe the sweat from his brow, he noticed smoke rising up from the woods the bordered his property. He dropped his plow and went to investigate. 

In the woods he found a pile of mangled metal. It seemed to be the remains of some sort of vehicle, perhaps a small plane of one of those new-fanfgled hover-cars.

Finding nothing of interest in the wreck itself, Arturo proceeded to search the area around it. 

To his surprise, he found a boy, looking about ten years of age, sprawled on the ground some ways from the presumed crash-site. The boy had long, black hair that seemed to stand on end, a large gash across his forehead above his left eye, and A FURRY, BROWN TAIL. 

Arturo was startled by the boy's extra appendage, but his wound was spilling blood and, tail or no tail, the boy needed help. Arturo carefully lifted him and carried him to the house. 

The boy awoke on a small bed in a small room. Scared out of his mind, he quickly looked around and saw a stout, dark-haired woman standing near a window. 

The boy did not know where he was or who this woman was. In fact, he didn't even know who he was. 

Before long, the woman, Elvia Rodríguez, Arturo's wife, noticed that the boy was awake. She went over to him. 

"¿Estás bien?" she questioned. The boy stared at he blankly. The language she spoke was not the language in his mind, and yet, it seemed familiar. As if, perhaps, he had learned it at dome point in his life. Yes. He had learned it. Estás bien. Are you alright. 

"Sí." he answered finally. "Yes. I am alright." 

It was soon established that the boy had no recollection of the accident or anything before it. 

"Your name?" asked Arturo. "Do you remember your name?" 

"Alejandro?" tried Elvia when the boy shook his head. "José? Miguel? Victor?" 

"Victor." the boy said experimentally. "No. Not Victor, but I think it did start with a V." 

"Vernon." tried Arturo. "Valentino. Vincent." 

"Vicente?" put in Rojelio, the Rodríguez's eleven year old son. 

"Vicente." Repeated the boy. "Vicente. You know what? I think that's it." 

"And your apellido?" inquired Arturo. 

Vicente thought for a moment. His last name. His last name. Did he even have one? "I don't know." 

"All right then, Vicente. We'll let la polícia know we've found you. That way, if anyone comes asking about you, they'll know where to send them. You can stay here until we find your family." 

"Gracias." Vicente said. "Thank you." 

Several weeks passed. Arturo went to the police station daily. One day, he returned bearing bad news. 

"Lo siento, Vicente." he said when he found the boy, feeding the animals without being asked. "I'm sorry, but no one seems to be looking for you." 

Vicente looked down at the ground. "What's going to happen to me?" 

"They're taking you to an orphanage." Arturo informed him, fighting back tears. In the past weeks he had grown attached to Vicente and could hardly bear the thought of him growing up in an awful place like that. 

"When?" 

"Tomorrow."


	2. Rojelio

Disclaimer: Still don't own DBZ. 

"Are you sure you want me to do this?" inquired Rojelio. He was in the tool shed with Vicente who was insisting that he cut his hair and his tail. 

"Please Rojelio. It's going to be hard enough to get adopted without looking like a freak." 

"Alright" said Rojelio uncertainly. Soon, the hair on Vicente's head was only one inch long (or tall) and the rest was on the floor. "You know, you could just keep your tail in your pants." 

Vicente thought about this. It was true enough, but there was something about his tail. Something in his memory that he just could not bring forward, but he knew it was bad. 

"Cut it off, Rojelio." 

"Fine. But if my father kills me, I'll haunt you for the rest of your days." Rojelio took Vicente's tail, laid it across the worktable, lifted the ax and 

From the tool shed came a cry like that of a wounded animal. Upon hearing this cry, Arturo, who had been looking for Vicente to give him news, took off towards it. 

Arturo burst into the tool shed to find his son holding an ax in one hand and Vicente's tail in the other with a strange, triumphant look on his face, as though he had just killed a great monster. Vicente stood, breathing heavily, with a wooden beam in his hands. He was bending it, and soon it was in pieces. 

"Rojelio!" Arturo shouted. _"¿Qué hiciste?"_ What did you do? 

"He made me do it!" Rojelio insisted, pointing at Vicente with the ax, the quickly hiding it behind his back when he realized he was doing it. 

"Vicente, _¿estás bien?"_

"Yes." Vicente said, turning to face them. There was sweat on his forehead and tears in his eyes, but neither slid down his face. "Don't be mad at Rojelio. He speaks the truth. I made him do it. I didn't want to go to the orphanage with a tail." 

Arturo shook his head and smiled. "Vicente, you're not going to the orphanage. I've adopted you. I was just looking for you to tell you. 

A few days later, Rojelio and Vicente stood in the barn. Rojelio was holding an ax and a live chicken by the neck. 

"Alright, Chente." he said. "My father used the money he was saving to hire help to adopt you. So, you are going to have to help with the work. Got it?" 

"Got it." 

"Ok. You're about ten and in this family, once you're ten, you get the 'privilege' of killing chickens when we're having one for dinner. Do you think you can handle it?'' 

"Probably. I'll try" 

Smiling grimly, Rojelio laid the chicken across a tree stump kept in the barn for the sole purpose of beheading livestock. He indicated that Vicente come over. When he did,

Rojelio had him hold down the struggling fowl, then handed him the ax. 

"Now, it's all right if you can't do it the first time. Lot's of people can't. I couldn't, in fact. But if you do, make sure you bring down the ax good and hard." 

Vicente held his tongue between his teeth and the ax above his head. He looked down at the bird, then, with a deep breath and a swallow, brought the ax down on the chicken's neck and was greeted by a spurt of blood on his face. 

  
"Oh, Chente! I'm sorry!" said Rojelio. "What an awful thing to happen on your first time! I'll understand if you don't want to do this again for a while. Chente?" 

Vicente was silent. His face twitched, then an evil sort of smile crossed his face. There was something about the blood, the foul smell of it, the deep redness of it, the wet, oozey warmth of it. It triggered something in his memory. He wanted to do it again. He had to. He lifted the ax and brought it down repeatedly on the dead chicken. 

"Chente! Chente, what are you doing?!" Rojelio asked, frightened. Was his newly adopted brother insane? "Chente, stop! Please!" 

Vicente continued hacking away. 

"Chente!" Rojelio tried to pull the ax from Vicente's hand. As a reflex, Vicente punched him, sending him flying across the barn. 

Even as his bloody fist connected with Rojelio's face, Vicente felt himself coming back to reality. Suddenly disgusted by the blood he was covered in, he retched noisily on the hay. When he was finished, he went over to Rojelio. 

"_Lo siento_, Rojelio!" Vicente cried. "Are you all right? I didn't mean to! I'm sorry!" He helped Rojelio to his feet. 

Rojelio stared at him with fear in his eye, then ran from the barn leaving a confused and frightened Vicente standing alone in a blood-filled barn.


	3. Nappa

Disclaimer:   
Does DBZ   
Belong to me?   
Read my disclaimer and see   
THE ANSWER IS NO!!!! 

Vicente had now been living with the Rodríguezes for seven years. He was about seventeen and Rojelio was eighteen. Rojelio had never told his parents about the incident in the barn or of any similar incidents occurring since. Either from fear of the other boy or concern about what would happen to him if anyone else knew about his odd behavior, or both, Rojelio kept quiet. 

On this particular day, Vicente, who's hair had not grown since Rojelio had cut it seven years ago (lucky thing he did a good job) and Rojelio were walking home from school. (since Vicente had started helping out around the farm, there had been enough spare time for both boys to seek an education and for Arturo to grow enough extra crops to make a profit.) Rojelio was anxious to reach the farm because, oodly enough, Vicente's flashbacks, which, Rojelio believed, reflected a violent past, only occurred when the two were alone. 

When they were almost home, Vicente stopped. He felt something strange within him, as if there was something evil near by and, for some unknown reason, he could sense it. 

"What is it?" asked Rojelio nervously. 

"_Nada_." Vicente replied. Nothing. But he was wrong, as the boys soon found. 

Inside of the house was a large, built, bald man in a strange out fit. He was holding Arturo and Elvia up against the wall. 

"Where is he?!" he demanded, surprisingly, in the language in Vicente's head, which, of course, the Rodríguezes did not understand. 

"Where is who?" questioned Vicente, in the man's language. The man dropped Elvia and Arturo, who hurried to stand by Rojelio, and turned around. 

"Prince Vegeta! There you are!" he studied him. "What the hell did you do to your hair?" 

"Vegeta!" Vicenta/Vegeta said, snapping his thumb and forefinger. "That's my name! Wow. I never would have thought of that!" The, for the Rodríguezes' sake, he repeated this in Spanish. Then, in the man's language, he said "Who are you and what do you want with me?" 

"Your Highness! Do you not remember me? I am Nappa." 

"Nappa? Isn't that some kind of vegetable? Yeah. I think we grow that stuff here." He asked Arturo in Spanish. The answer was positive. 

Nappa stood, sweatdropped. He closed his eyes. "So you've lost your memory. Lord Frieza thought as much. Well, I guess I'd better remind you of your past." 

Nappa filled Vegeta in on his dark history in great, explicit detail. All of the destruction, all of the death that Prince Vegeta had cause with his own two hands. 

Listening to this, Vegeta began to tremble. He grew pale and sweaty. His eyes filled with tears and his head began to spin. He remembered it now. He remembered doing all of those awful things. He remembered enjoying it. He remembered being that way, and he did not want to be that way again. 

"And so,'' Nappa concluded, opening his eyes. "Lord Frieza sent me to Earth to find you and Kakarot. We have already pinpointed Kakarot's location, but we thought it would be better to find you first. Now, what do you say? Will you join us in our conquest of Earth?" 

Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "No." 

"No?" 

"That's what I said. isn't it?" 

"Prince Vegeta, you do, of course, realize that if you refuse to help us you will have to be eliminated." Nappa began forming a ball of energy in his hand. "Last chance to change your mind..." 

Vegeta was rushed with memories of fighting techniques he had learned in his former way of life. He knew that, because he had not fought in this way for seven years, none of his attacks would be powerful enough to defeat Nappa. His only chance was to take a cheap shot. 

Doosh! Nappa doubled over in pain and fell to the floor. Acting on instinct. Vegeta grabbed Nappa's head and broke his neck, killing him. Then he turned to his family who was staring at him in shock and fear. 

"Vi...Vicente?" said Arturo questioningly. 

Vegeta look solemn as he told them all that Nappa had told him, including the truth of his own violent nature. 

"I feel remorse, now, for all I have done. And though I cannot undo any of the harm that I have inflicted on so many planets, I will try my hardest to prevent similar events from occurring on this one. I am sorry for any...inconvenience I have caused you." 

"What are you going to do?" asked Rojelio. 

"_Pues_," well "First I will find this Kakarot and make sure he is on the right side of things. Our side. Earth's side." 

__

"¿Entonces qué?" Then what. 

"_Entonces... no se_." I don't know.


	4. Kakarot

Disclaimer: Do I own DBZ, you ask? The answer to that is the same as the answer to this. The Linkin Park concert in Long Beach, CA on the 22nd of February? Did I go? I F**KING WISH!!!!

With a little help from the coordinates stored in Nappa's spacepod (which he borrowed), Vegeta soon arrived on the small island where the mysterious "Kakarot" was supposed to be located. 

Vegeta disembarked from the pod and found himself facing a group that consisted of an old man, a cat, a pig, a turtle, three boys (one in his late teens, the others younger) and a teenaged girl. 

"Wh...who are you?' one of the boys, a baldheaded one, asked in (surprise surprise) Vegeta's language.

"My name is Vicente, um, I mean Vegeta." Vegeta replied. "Which one of you is Kakarot?" The group stared blankly. Vegeta noticed that the other young boy had a tail. He pointed to him. "Kakarot! I need to talk to you!" 

"Who, me?" asked the boy, pointing to himself. "I'm Goku." 

"Yeah yeah. I have an Earth name, too. But anyway, I have an urgent matter to discuss with you." 

"Have you met Krillin yet?" asked Goku pointing at the bald boy. "Vegeta, this is Krillin." 

"Hello Krillin." Vegeta said without enthusiasm. "Now Kakarot, there's this guy, Lord Frieza. He's power-mad and he-" 

"What about Oolong and Puar?" 

"Hello Oolong and Puar." Vegeta began to get annoyed. "So, Frieza, he wants to take over Earth and-" 

"And this is Bulma!" 

"Pleased to meet you. So anyway, when Frieza gets here he's basically going to kill everyone and -" 

"And this is turtle, Master Roshi, and Yamcha!" 

Vegeta snapped. "TO HELL WITH YAMCHA! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS SACRED IN LIFE! I AM TRYING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING IMPORTANT HERE!!!" 

"Well, who's stopping you?" 

With that, Vegeta inundated Goku with every Spanish swear word and insult he had ever heard. When he finished, he felt the need to break something, so he ripped the door off of the pod. Goku was silent. 

"Ok." Vegeta said, struggling to regain his composure. "Now that I have your attention; Frieza is going to come here and try to get you to help him take over the planet." 

"Why me?" 

"Well, because you're a Saiyan of course!" said an exasperated Vegeta. 

"What's a Saiyan?" 

Vegeta almost exploded again, but he knew he had to be patient. After all, Nappa had had to explain it to him. "A Saiyan is a member of the warrior race from the planet Vegeta. Saiyans-" 

"So you're named after a planet?" 

"Nooo. I'm named after my father. He was named after the planet. But he was king, so it made sense." 

"So you're a Saiyan, too?" 

"Yes. Yes I am. So, as I was saying, Frieza used to employ Saiyans to help him conquer worlds, or rather, conquer them for him. He stopped when the planet was destroyed because, duh, there weren't anymore Saiyans, save a few who happened to be off world. Soooo, now that he wants to conquer Earth, he's going to try to get you to help him and..." Vegeta saw that the group was talking among themselves. "...and you stopped listening. But hey. If you guys don't care about this planet, I'll just shut up and leave you guys alone. have a nice day." He started to leave. 

"Wait!" cried the girl known as Bulma. "What exactly do you want Goku to do?" 

Vegeta turned to face her. "To train. So that when Frieza gets here, he can help me kick his ass, if we can." Then seeing the looks on their faces said "Aye. Stupid pronouns. So Kakarot can kick Frieza's ass." 

"Quick question." said Yamcha. "Goku's tail. DO all Saiyans have tails?" 

"That they do." Vegeta then answered what he anticipated would be the next question. "My tail got cut off." 

"So did mine!" said Goku. "But it grew back!" He smiled and made a 'V-for-victory' sign with his index and middle finger. 

"Really? Man. Mine's been gone ever since I cut it. Just like my hair." 

"Saiyan hair doesn't grow?" 

"That's right. I thought you would have noticed that by now." 

"So anyway" Bulma said, bringing the conversation back to important matters. "When and where is this Frieza guy gonna show up?" 

"Well," said Vegeta thoughtfully. "Frieza can probably track his little space travel pod things, so he'll most likely show up wherever this one is. And as for when...I haven't the slightest idea."


	5. Frieza

Disclaimer: I do not own DB or DBZ or grrrrrr..... Just leave me alone!

  


"Concentrate, Kakarot! Concentrate! Come on! Do you want to fly or not?!"

  


"I'm trying! I'm trying! And stop calling me Kakarot! I'm Goku!"

  


"Go-kaka- who cares?! JUST CONCENTRATE!"

* * *

"Come on! Can't you move any faster?! Honestly! How do you expect to hit Frieza if you can't hit me?"

  


"I'm doing the best I can here!"

  


"Then do bet-... ow..."

  


"Whoops. Sorry about that, Vegeta."

* * *

"Okay. Let's see you little attack thing."

  


"Okay. Ka...me...ha...me..."

  


"Kakarot!"

  


"Huh?"

  


"...Well?"

  


"Well what?"

  


"Your attack?"

  


"Oh yeah. Sorry. You distracted me."

  


"Well distractions can happen. LEARN TO DEAL WITH THEM!"

* * *

Goku and Vegeta had been training for several days. Obviously not enough progress had been made in that short period of time.

  


"You feel that, Kakarot?" Vegeta asked. Goku shook his head. Vegeta turned him around and pointed at a small dot in the sky. "It's Frieza. He's coming."

  


Goku stared at the dot that was getting larger and larger.

  


"We'd better let the others know." Vegeta said, sounding overly calm. "They're not going to have enough time to get out of here. I told them they should have left." Vegeta entered the house, leaving Goku to gape at the approaching pod.

  


Vegeta informed the others that Frieza was almost there and that they were to stay in the house until Frieza was dead and if that was the rest of their lives, then so be it.

  


When Krillin and Yamcha protested, saying that they wanted to help, Vegeta said "If anyone steps out of this house during the course of the battle, I will personally kill them, if only to spare them the slow and painful death Frieza would put them through." That settled, he returned outside to join Goku.

  


The two Saiyans watched solemnly as Frieza's space pod touched down in the sand and the tyrant stepped out. 

  


"Kakarot. Prince Vegeta." Frieza said. "I'm glad you're here. Where is Nappa?"

  


"I don't know." lied Vegeta, knowing perfectly well that Nappa was now fertilizing a Mexican forest. "He's not here, that's for sure."

  


"Why is his pod here?"

  


"I took it."

  


"Why did you do that?"

  


"So I could find Kakarot and train."

  


"So you've decided to join me in my conquest?"

  


"No." cut in Goku before Vegeta could stall anymore. "We're gonna fight you!"

  


A frown fell across Frieza's face, but it was soon replaced by a malignant smile. "Is that so?" 

  


Goku nodded vigorously and got into a fighting stance. 

  


"Prince Vegeta?"

  


Vegeta, knowing very well what Frieza was capable of and what he himself was not, shook slightly and a took a defensive stance.

  


"All right then." said Frieza, grinning wickedly and starting to form a ball of energy in the palm of his hand.

  


  


  


  



End file.
